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Safe Meat: There Is
A Better Way

By

Elizabeth M. Whelan

Updated Aug. 26, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

Last week's unprecedented recall of 25 million pounds of beef contaminated with the disease-causing Escherichia coli bacteria tells us a good deal about the futility of demanding zero risk in our food supply. The ensuing media frenzy tells us even more about America's naiveti concerning food production.

But even more importantly, this incident highlights our government's refusal to allow an efficient, safe technology that could safeguard against food-borne disease: pasteurization through irradiation. Instead of endorsing...